2,878 stories by "Lyn Gardner"
Yael Farber relocated Strindberg's 1888 classic to post-apartheid South Africa " and cut straight to its dark, throbbing heartStrindberg's 1888 play Miss Julie, which focuses on a fatal sexu…
Actor Miriam Margolyes berated a theatregoer who did not leap to her feet with the rest of the audience to applaud her show about Dickens. Since when did ovations become compulsory? Continue…
Actor Miriam Margolyes berated a theatregoer who did not leap to her feet with the rest of the audience to applaud her show about Dickens. Since when did ovations become compulsory?The show …
O2, LondonThere aren't many pantos that begin with a funeral " and fewer still in which that turns out to be the highlight of the show. This gothic and mournfully witty scene, set in a gloom…
New Wimbledon, LondonPriscilla Presley might have once been married to rock'n'roll royalty, but having been the King's consort is little preparation for playing the Wicked Queen. The annual …
There's very little new this week, but why not go Wilde in Scarborough, Spread a Little Happiness in Salisbury or get Some Sauce for the Goose at the Orange Tree in RichmondSouth and WalesOn…
BAC, LondonKneehigh has given me " and plenty of others " some of the most joyous nights I've had in a theatre over the last 15 years, and there is no company better at excavating the dark, …
Discover, LondonNarnia has got nothing on this interactive, gingerbread-making, storytelling show for three-to-six-year-olds, touched by that old Punchdrunk magic and a sprinkling of festive…
The Arts Council's £11.6m budget cut can only lead to cancelled productions, job losses and boarded-up theatres. But out of sight is out of mind for this governmentIf you travel around th…
Southwark Playhouse, LondonLena is loved by two men, but can only marry one. She chooses Jared, but her decision leads to bloodshed. Jared's love for their daughter leads to a murder, and&nb…
Lyric HammersmithIn recent years Hammersmith's Lyric has become a panto hotspot to rival Hackney, York and Nottingham " and this year it delivers a top-quality production, directed with…
Panto isn't proper theatre? Oh yes it is!At this time of year I'm on full-time panto patrol, pretty much, reviewing the festive family shows that fill British theatres, and which are so cruc…
Soho, LondonThe bathroom is the place where we are most vulnerable and exposed, a space in which we are mostly alone; where we do the things that we don't want anyone else to see. But, in th…
There's a brand new Jim Cartwright play in the middle of north Yorkshire " while Dominic West stars in My Fair Lady at the Sheffield Crucible and Kneehigh's Midnight's Pumpkin opens at BAC i…
Curve, LeicesterSome people paint, others sew; Dolly Levi is a woman who meddles. She does it in pursuit of pleasure and profit, and her greatest delight is in matchmaking. She has the perfe…
Panto season sees JM Barrie's Peter Pan flying into theatres this week, with new versions at Bristol Old Vic and Cardiff's Sherman Cymru. What better reason to dig out the Pans of yore?"Oh, …
Panto season sees JM Barrie's Peter Pan flying into theatres this week, with new versions at Bristol Old Vic and Cardiff's Sherman Cymru. What better reason to dig out the Pans of yore? Cont…
Biscuit Factory, LondonWe are on the cruise of a lifetime. In the bar, the band are playing, just as the band played on when the Titanic went down. There is something bovine in our midst. W…
Vanessa Redgrave, 75, and James Earl Jones, 81, are to play the sharp-tongued lovers in an Old Vic production of Shakespeare's comedy. Does age matter on stageVanessa Redgrave is 75 and Jame…
Some of the best immersive theatre experiences around are off-limits to grownups, proving it's never too early to be inspiredOddly, perhaps, I can't remember my first theatre visit, although…
From a Blairite Emperor's New Clothes to a Moors murders-inspired Pied Piper, poet Carol Ann Duffy and director Melly Still's fairytale stagings have pushed the boundaries. What's in store t…
The Pit, LondonThe title provides a clue in this latest show from Hugh Hughes, a Welsh artist who has emerged over the last seven years with shows such as Floating, and the tale of…
Erica Whyman directs The Borrowers at Northern Stage in Newcastle, Peeplykus send up the creator of Sherlock Holmes at the Traverse in Edinburgh and Bryony Kimmings invites you to The DIY Na…
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon"Where are we, Daddy?" "What are we, Daddy"? Those two questions set the tone for Tamsin Oglesby's adaptation of Russell Hoban's dark, serious y…
Old Vic, LondonIt would be nice to report that Trevor Nunn's revival of the classic 1948 musical is too darn hot, but it arrives in London from the Chichester festival in a lukewarm state. T…
